


Masks

by katling



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fluff, Little bit of angst, M/M, Masks, adaar is stubborn, talk of saarebas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Would a Vashoth mage really be happy to wear a mask, knowing what they mean for someone like him under the Qun? Kaaras Adaar and Orlesian fashion collide.This playthrough was a male mage Adaar, romancing Dorian and this little piece is set just before the masquerade at the Winter Palace.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally in my compilation [Inquisition Allsorts](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3523040). I’m splitting it up because it was getting too unwieldy with too many pairings in the one place. So if you think you’ve read this before, you probably have, either at Inquisition Allsorts or over on my main tumblr, [tellmevarric](http://tellmevarric.tumblr.com/) or my sideblog [talesoftheinquisiton](http://talesoftheinquisition.tumblr.com/), where I now put all my fic.

“No.”

Josephine blinked at the flat, absolute refusal that she’d received when she held out the mask to Kaaras.

“Inquisitor,” she said smoothly. “You must…”

“No,” Kaaras repeated, his expression was darkening by the moment. “I am not wearing a mask.”

Josephine seemed entirely nonplussed by both his blunt adamant refusal and his stormy expression and when Dorian and Iron Bull walked into the room, she turned to them in supplication.

“Please…”

“No, Josephine,” Kaaras said, overriding her with a rudeness he rarely showed to any of his advisors or companions. “I am not wearing a mask and that’s final. No one, not you, not Dorian, not Bull, is going to convince me otherwise. If the Orlesians don’t like that, they can stick their disapproval up their collective arses.”

With that the Vashoth mage stalked out of the sitting room and into the bedroom of the suite he’d been given at their inn. Silence reigned in his wake.

“Huh,” Iron Bull said contemplatively into that silence. “Guess I should have seen this coming. I just didn’t think it through properly.”

“Think what through?” Dorian said sharply. He had been rather startled himself by Kaaras’ behaviour. The Vashoth mage was usually especially polite to Josephine. He’d once admitted to Dorian that he always felt particularly large and cumbersome around the Ambassador, as though she was a porcelain doll and he was going to break her if he wasn’t careful. Dorian had laughed at that. Their Ambassador had a lot of steel in her, all shrouded by pure silk and velvet.

“Saarebas wear masks,” Iron Bull said. He didn’t really need to say anything more.

“Oh, dear,” Josephine said, looking down at the mask in her hand with distress. “I… I’m not sure if I can… The court is going to be appalled. But I do not wish…”

Dorian sighed. _He_ should have seen this coming as well. He and Kaaras had talked about this before and he knew the Vashoth mage’s opinion on how the Qunari treated their mages. He walked over at took the mask from Josephine’s hand.

“Let me talk to him.” He held up one hand when she looked hopeful. “I make no promises, Josephine, but I’ll talk to him.”

He let himself into the bedroom and found Kaaras staring moodily out the window. He took a moment to appreciate the view.

“You do look terribly dashing in red, Amatus.”

Kaaras looked over at him then glared at the mask in Dorian’s hand. “I’m not wearing that thing, Dorian.”

The Tevinter mage tossed the offending item on the bed and removed his mask. It joined the other mask on the bed. “I’m not going to make you, though I did promise to talk to you.” He closed the gap between them and leaned against the tall Vashoth. “So, talk to me.”

Kaaras sighed and let his tension run out as he wrapped an arm around his lover. “I can’t do it, Dorian. I can’t wear a mask like a damn Saarebas. Bad enough that I’m trussed up like a chicken in this uniform.”

So Bull had been right. Dorian wrapped his arms around his lover and magnanimously decided to forego the ten thousand witty comments the chicken line offered to him. “No Saarebas I’ve seen has a mask that stylish.”

Kaaras frowned. “That’s not the point, Dorian.”

“I know.”

The Vashoth mage sighed and pressed a kiss in the top of Dorian’s head, seeming to take comfort from the action. “How pissed at me is Josephine?”

“Not very,” Dorian replied. “She’s more worried that she won’t be able to assuage the offended sensibilities of the court but she’s trying to figure out a way.” He looked up and caressed Kaaras’ cheek. “She’s not going to force you to wear it either.”

Kaaras frowned. “She’s not? After everything I went through about these damn uniforms with her and Vivienne?”

“Bull explained. As much as a three word sentence can be an explanation. Though I suppose it was enough of one,” Dorian said. “Anyway, he said he probably should have seen this coming.”

Kaaras tilted Dorian’s head up with one finger and kissed him, something Dorian was more than happy to accept and then deepen. “ _I_ should have seen this coming,” Kaaras said when they broke apart. “I just… forgot about the masks.”

Dorian smiled mischievously. “We could always stay here. No masks required. No uniforms either.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Kaaras said ruefully. “Though you do look damn good in that uniform.”

“I’d look even better out of it.”

Kaaras made a low noise of want. “Dorian, you’re not helping.”

Dorian affected a look of innocence. “Oh, was I supposed to be helping? No one told me that.”

“I don’t know. Were you?” Kaaras said, pulling Dorian closer and leaning down to kiss him. The kiss quickly turned heated and Dorian moaned when Kaaras gently pushed him up against the wall and insinuated one large thigh between his legs, almost lifting him off his feet. He rocked against it involuntarily and moaned again.

“Gentlemen!”

Kaaras pulled away from Dorian lazily and turned his head just enough to see Josephine standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She seemed caught between exasperation and amusement.

“If you ruin those uniforms, you’ll answer to Madame Vivienne,” she said, trying to be stern.

They stayed where they were for a moment then slowly moved away from each other. Dorian slid slightly behind the Inquisitor in order to hide the effect the other man had had on him.

“Josephine…” Kaaras began. He stopped when the Ambassador raised her hand.

“No, Inquisitor, it is I who should apologise to you,” she said. “You do not need to wear the mask. I will make things right with the court. They will understand.”

With that Josephine turned and left the room.

“Or else,” Dorian said with a chuckle. “Maker help the court if they refuse to understand.”

Kaaras turned back and sighed, pulling Dorian close again. “I should wear it.”

“Not if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“But we need to get the court’s approval.” The resignation was plain in the Inquisitor’s voice. “And it’s going to bad enough with me being both a mage and Vashoth.”

“So?” Dorian said with a snort. “If they’re going to fuss over you being a Vashoth mage then who cares if you go without a mask? It seems trivial in comparison.” He looked utterly wicked for a moment. “Besides, it’ll be a laugh. They’ll look at you and think you’re a complete barbarian and then get their knees cut out from underneath them when you outplay them in the Game.”

Kaaras raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m going to outplay them?”

“I’ve seen you run verbal rings around people at Skyhold,” Dorian replied. “If you put your mind to it tonight, you’ll have no trouble.”

Kaaras relaxed a little at Dorian’s confident assessment. Though Dorian hadn’t ever played the Game in Orlais, he had done so in a far more cutthroat – literally – court in Tevinter.

“And what will you be doing?”

“Standing in a little circle of emptiness as people avoid the _evil Tevinter mage_ ,” Dorian said mockingly. “And possibly entertaining people who think I _am_ actually an evil Tevinter mage or possibly even a Venatori spy, in which case I might learn something interesting for the Inquisition.”

“Sounds like a lot more fun than I’ll be having,” Kaaras said dryly before he sighed and walked over to the bed. He picked up the two masks and held Dorian’s out to him.

Dorian accepted the mask and put it on. “You don’t have to.”

Kaaras stared at the mask with distaste. “I’ll… I’ll try. But I reserve the right to pitch it out of the carriage before we get there.”

Dorian took it from him and gently put it on. “That sounds entirely fair to me.” He stepped back and gave Kaaras a critical look. “Though you do look good in it.”

Kaaras growled under his breath then held out one arm. “Shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> To answer the question some of you may have… yes, the mask got pitched out of the carriage window on the way to the Winter Palace. No masks for my mage Adaar. The Orlesians can just deal with it. :D


End file.
